The invention relates to an automobile vehicle equipped with a dedicated low frequency communication system provided with an antenna and in particular with a system used for data exchanges between a device called the identifier equipped with identification means installed in the vehicle, and an identification device carried by a user, to activate devices carried on the vehicle.
For example, this type of dedicated communication system may be provided to offer control means under xe2x80x9chands freexe2x80x9d conditions. They enable a user to operate devices in the vehicle, for example the engine starter, simply because his presence is detected in the vehicle passenger compartment, provided that the user is carrying or wearing the identifier that is recognized by the identification device. The delimitation of a determined area of this type depends on the antenna through the identifier communicates with the identification device. This identifier usually consists of a transponder that picks up emissions generated by the identifier through the antenna and which replies by signals that the antenna picks up and outputs to the identification device, when the transponder is within the range defined by the antenna. In one known embodiment, the antenna used for a communication system like that described above is a large antenna that forms a loop placed on the vehicle and that is designed to carry a high current and to emit a high energy signal, for example a signal that outputs the energy necessary for the identifier to respond. This loop antenna is made using a length of multi-strand twisted cable, the strands of which are connected end-to-end and strand-by-strand, in order to form turns connected in series. For example, it can be fitted on the frame of an automobile vehicle door, with the length of the cable being installed around the periphery of the door. However, this solution is not fully satisfactory, since the objective is to delimit a communication area inside the passenger compartment and particularly an area running along the longitudinal centerline of the vehicle. Furthermore, in some applications, it is preferable to make it impossible for the identifier to be active when the user is at the side of the vehicle.
Therefore, the purpose of the invention is an automobile vehicle with a passenger compartment and in which there is a longitudinal console on the floor, extending forwards and that is equipped with a dedicated low frequency communication system provided with an antenna and that enables exchanges of data signals within a communication area corresponding to the antenna radiation area, forming a volume with a chosen shape and dimensions.
According to one characteristic of the invention, the system antenna is an air antenna forming an elongated loop around the console, along and at the side of which it extends to form a communication area distributed over at least part of the length of the passenger compartment and inside it.
According to the invention, the loop formed by the system antenna extends along the floor, beyond at least one end of the console, to form a communication area that extends beyond the console, if the console is shorter than the passenger compartment.
According to one variant of the invention, the system antenna extends beyond the front end of the console and continues along the dashboard and/or the instrument panel, inside the passenger compartment to delimit a communication area covering essentially the inside of the passenger compartment and particularly at the front.
Another purpose of the invention is an automobile vehicle in which the antenna, in the form of an elongated loop as defined above, is a xe2x80x9chands freexe2x80x9d type communication system antenna enabling data exchanges between a recognition device installed in the vehicle and an identifier device worn or carried by a user for the purposes of actuating devices included in the vehicle.